In an advisory early this year, Red Hat raised an important runC security alert for users of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 Extras to update their software because of a vulnerability that made it possible for threat actors to infiltrate a host system through a container. The affected versions of runC had a problem isolating containers from the host OS directory.
This runC vulnerability highlights the need for runtime security as organizations steadily move towards cloud environments and workloads. Cloud computing has made it more difficult to secure IT assets. In the pre-cloud era, it was generally enough to deploy software with secure code. Nowadays, this is no longer the case. Cloud-native applications are not the same as traditional apps in many aspects, which make them more challenging to secure.
Differences Between Cloud-Native and Traditional Apps
Cloud-native applications have significant differences over traditional apps, making them more difficult to secure. Their architectures are not monolithic, as they may employ microservices architecture, which entails smaller independent services that communicate with each other.
Also, they are deployed in cloud environments like Google Cloud or Amazon Web Services, not on-premise servers that are secured by parameter defenses. Additionally, cloud-native apps rely on agile development methodologies and continuous integration and continuous delivery for faster iteration, bug fixing, and updates. All these create a new security paradigm, which may point to better resilience (for cloud-native apps) but also pose more complex security challenges.
Cloud-native applications, particularly those that employ microservices architecture, have the advantage of isolating compromises. The rest of the application remains operational even as a microservice is attacked. However, this also means increased attack surfaces and the complexity of resolving compromises, especially when it comes to dynamic environments. It can be quite difficult to keep up with security needs as the environment changes. Also, cloud-native apps usually employ containers, which means more elements possibly harboring vulnerabilities in them.
To secure cloud-native applications effectively, organizations cannot rely on traditional security solutions. There are several points to take into account, from the shift from perimeter defense to zero-trust to the need for API security and protection of dynamic and ephemeral elements of cloud-native environments. For this discussion, however, we’ll focus specifically on runtime protection, which emphasizes real-time threat monitoring.
The Benefits of Runtime Protection
Runtime protection is a security strategy aimed at securing apps during their runtime phase or execution, hence the name. It is one of the cybersecurity buzzwords that emerged as security requirements have evolved alongside the growing popularity of cloud computing and cloud-native applications. It is characterized by real-time threat monitoring and response, enhanced security visibility, adaptive security, zero-day protection, and container and microservice security.
Since runtime protection operates as an application is executed, it ensures continuous observation over various aspects of an app, from system calls to network activity, and interactions between microservices. It examines an application’s behavior to detect anomalies or deviations from what is considered normal or safe activity. This detection system can be based on threat signatures or an AI-aided system that assesses patterns of activity to spot suspicious behavior. Additionally, runtime protection usually includes automated real-time responses to prevent intrusions, isolate the impact of an attack, and generate the necessary logs and notifications.
Runtime protection also leverages contextual information associated with a specific application. It operates with contextual awareness to facilitate the accurate differentiation between safe and anomalous behavior. Unlike traditional security tools that focus or even fully rely on network traffic analysis, runtime protection gathers telemetry data from an application and its underlying infrastructure to undertake broader forensic analysis.
Also, runtime protection employs micro-segmentation and deep-packet inspection for a thorough examination of possible threats and improved protection. These enable runtime protection to achieve enhanced security visibility and provide the protection traditional tools are incapable of doing.
This enhanced security visibility makes runtime protection a vital tool in achieving security adaptability. It is crucial in securing dynamic environments where frequent changes happen and the inability to adapt or implement proactive security can have dire consequences.
Additionally, runtime protection excels in catching zero-day vulnerabilities and attacks. It undertakes behavioral analysis with contextual awareness to spot unknown threats, which are unlikely to be detected through signature-based scanning alone. There are existing security solutions designed to address zero-day vulnerabilities and attacks by scanning network activity and other broad data points, but they do not afford protection at runtime. It is important to emphasize runtime protection within the cloud-native application itself.
Lastly, runtime protection is a must as more and more organizations embrace microservices and containerization, which expand attack surfaces and bring with them unique sets of complexities. It monitors communication channels and the activities within individual services and can isolate containers, which is important in preventing data leaks and unwanted interactions. It continuously scans running containers to ensure that they are free from security weaknesses and compliance issues throughout their lifecycle.
Is Runtime Protection a Must?
Cloud-native applications are changing the way businesses operate by enabling greater efficiency, scalability, resilience, flexibility, and rapid development cycles. However, their distributed nature creates new security challenges. The new security needs are crucial points to consider, because the cloud-native application market continues to grow year after year, expanding at a predicted CAGR of nearly 24% through 2028. More organizations are adopting cloud-native apps, which means more of them have to deal with new security challenges.
Runtime protection is one of the key solutions in addressing the more complex security circumstances surrounding cloud-native apps. Secure code is no longer enough in the present-day threat landscape. Refusing to adopt runtime protection does not only infer the failure to protect cloud-native apps. It also indicates a failure to evolve with the threats, making organizations less adept at meeting more security challenges in the future.
